Who built the ark to survive the great flood?

Noah built the ark to survive the great flood.

In the Book of Genesis, God warns Noah that a catastrophic flood will destroy living creatures because of widespread human wickedness. Noah is instructed to construct a huge vessel, bring aboard his wife, his sons and their wives, and preserve representatives of the animal world. The narrative describes the ark’s construction and the flood across Genesis chapters 6–9.

The ark is not simply a ship in the modern sense. Genesis presents it as a divinely commanded refuge, and the Hebrew word used for it, teva, can also mean a chest or box. That same unusual term is used for the basket in which the infant Moses is placed, while the Ark of the Covenant uses a different Hebrew word.

The story is often confused with other flood traditions. Mesopotamian accounts, especially the story of Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh, contain notable parallels. In Islamic tradition, Noah is called Nuh, and the ark story also appears in the Quran.